Remembering Srebrenica

Into our second day in Sarajevo, we visited Srebrenica, a small town that marred the reputation of the biggest blue organisation of the world known to us as United Nation. In Bosnia, they are known as smurfs because of their blue helmets. I am very much ashamed of myself that I gave no interest to Srebrenica as most emphasis was given to the siege of Sarajevo. After having read the history of Bosnian war, it doesn’t stop at the siege alone. It is to be noted that we had not seen the Sarajevo city proper as we had to alter our itinerary to meet the minimum number for the Srebrenica tour.

Bosnia : The world’s most complicated system of government

5 minutes into journey, I realized for the first time how little choice the Bosnians were left when they agreed to sign the Dayton Peace Accords to end the war that left over 100,000 people dead. I must say I am completely baffled but not generally surprised when reading misleading information on Wikipedia’s Dayton Peace. Though I was advised to drop the subject on numerous occasions in Bosnia, I shall now attempt to explain how complicated the system of government of Bosnia is.

The Dayton Peace Accords set up two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Republika Srpska. The main cities in the Federation are the capital Sarajevo, and the cities of Mostar, Tuzla, Bihac and Zenica, while in the Republika Srpska entity the main cities are Banja Luka, Bijeljina, Prijedor and Trebinje. Each with its own president, government, parliament, army, police and other bodies.

A directly elected tripartite Presidency, which is in charge of foreign, diplomatic and military affairs, and the budget of state-level institutions. The three presidency members are from the three constituent nations – one Bosniak, one Serb, one Croat. The presidency members preside the presidency seat on 8-month rotation basis.

I wondered of the mixed system as we drove 5 minutes across the city of Sarajevo to enter the Republic of Srpska.

Srebrenica massacre

In July 1995, more than 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks consisting of mainly men and boys were killed around the town of Srebrenica by the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska under the command of General Ratko Mladic. It was the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War. Srebrenica was declared as UN safe area in April 1993 but UN failed to prevent the town’s capture that led to the subsequent massacre.

Our group of 8 girls and Rome based film director guide cum Srebrenica survivor, Ado Hasanovic, engaged in a heated discussion of the sad truth in Srebrenica. Laura’s father served as soldier in Canadian Battalion during the Bosnian War. Others had either read or knew about Srebrenica.

On our journey to Srebrenica, Ado Hasanovic unfolded the survival story of his family. He kicked start his story by telling us about Srebrenica being the silver city of Bosnia, flourished with the precious metal. It was then the second richest city after Sarajevo. The killings were planned in advance stemming from the betrayal of their Serbian neighbours who received supply of arms from Serbia.

There was a deliberate policy to murder the elite class first. One of the many elite people was the imam from Bratunac. The imam was beaten to death after refusing to drink alcohol and show the three fingers (a sign of Serbian’s salute).

The situation was very bad as the civilians were robbed and chased out from their own houses. Some were placed in holes and burnt to death. Men and boys were gathered in open area and murdered systematically. Pre-war – when the Serbian police made a spot-check on houses so frequently, Ado’s father knew he had to find a safer place for his family. He had instinct something was about to happen. They had to flee and all of them set to hike the surrounding mountain to take shelter. Months later, Ado and his family came back to Srebrenica to find his house empty with all furniture gone. With nothing else to hold dear to, Ado’s father decided to send his family to Tuzla which spared Ado’s family the massacre. His father remained in Srebrenica and participated in the death march and survived. He called his father’s decision as luck as most people from Srebrenica lost many family members from the genocide. Throughout the short time, men and boys were systematically killed. Mothers and wives resorted to suicide.

UN’s Headquarters at Potocari

The UN’s Headquarters at Potocari is located at the “Battery Factory”, a site used by the Dutch battalion (DUTCHBAT) as its headquarters from 1994 to 1995, about 5km from Srebrenica. DUTCHBAT was under heavy criticism as to their indirect involvement to Srebrenica massacre. While 15,000 people fled to Tuzla, majority of people looked for protection from the UN’s Headquarters at Potocari. They were turned down; only a number of them were allowed into the UN’s Headquarters at Potocari. Their stay at the UN’s headquarters at Potocari was cut short when DUTCHBAT’s Left Col. Karremans agreed to Radko Mladic’s suggestion to “evacuate” the women and children to a zone under Bosnian Serb control and later to transfer the men. While Mladic did transfer the women and children, he proceeded to massacre the men.

From outside the gate.

As I entered the UN’s headquarters, the ambience was eerie. It was as if there were people eyeing on us. From afar, Ado’s explanation on the dark history of Srebrenica echoed through the air. As time passed, more tourists entered the premise.

Meet Ado Hasanovic, our tour guide cum Srebrenica survivor.

From inside the hall.

The memorial room that houses documentary section and showcase of personal belonging of the victims. The perpetrators of Srebrenica genocide are also highlighted. Some of the pictures hung on the wall are disturbing pictures of the victims.

Srebrenica 1995

Body parts of the victims were exhumed from different places. The above shows that body parts of the deceased were discovered at 5 different districts. The Chetniks dug the mass grave and buried the remains again and again to make it difficult to identify the victims.

Women and girls were tortured and raped. Some took their lives out of depression.

Other building in the UN’s headquarters.

Survivor of the Srebrenica genocide. The facial expression as he shared his stories with us. He lost his brother during the tragedy.

Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial and Cemetery for the Victims of the 1995 Genocide